Will Heaven Have Space and Time 9-13-2020

HEAVEN - SEEING THE UNSEEN WILL HEAVEN HAVE SPACE AND TIME? Sunday September 13, 2020 Scripture Reference: Genesis 1:1 & Revelation 21:1 (NLT2) Intro. A. Well I hope you enjoyed the four weeks we spent talking about that amazing city God has prepared for us. From here on out in this series I will speaking to some of the more practical questions we probably have about Heaven. As you can see in today's message, I will address whether or not we will have space and time in Heaven. How often have we either said or heard it said that Heaven will be a place where "Time is no more" but is that true? I will answer that question for you today. In the coming weeks and months, I will talk about things like, what will our bodies be like in Heaven? I sure hope I don't have to worry about calories or cholesterol in Heaven. What will our daily lives be like? I have already told you that I do not believe we will float around on clouds day and night strumming a harp so what we will be doing? Is heaven like eternal retirement? Of course, some of you are busier retired than when you were employed. I will even address the issue of will we have animals in Heaven. Will we see our pets again in Heaven? I really think you are going to enjoy the coming months of this series. Trans. Let's get started with today's question, will there be space and time in Heaven? Let's look at two verse that are familiar to us. Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 21:1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 (NLT2) "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone." Revelation 21:1 (NLT2) I. WILL THERE BE SPACE AND TIME IN HEAVEN? In my message a few Sundays ago I addressed the issue of whether or not we will have the sun and moon in Heaven. You might recall that my opinion was that these celestial bodies will still exist and in fact I believe the bible reveals to us that the "Heaven's" we now know we will still have. So then: A. What Will The New Heaven's Be Like? 1. When Genesis 1:1 tells us that God created the heavens and the earth, the words heaven's and earth are synonymous with what we think of when we use the word universe. To say that God created the heavens and the earth is to say, God created all that is. The word "Heavens" refers to the realms above the earth. Such as the atmosphere, the sun moon and stars. Revelations 21:1 speaks of the New Heavens and New Earth. Here is what the prophet Isaiah said, "Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore." Isaiah 65:17 (NLT2) Now Rev. 21:1 tells us that the old heaven and earth pass away, but does this mean they are destroyed? When my daughter passed away a year ago today, was that the end of her? NO! She did not cease to exist; she went to her eternal reward in Heaven. She laid aside all the trappings of this sin cursed live. The earth and heavens will not be gone but renewed. Rev. 21:2 tells us that all things will be made new again. Once again, I need to say that these words do not mean that what God created was bad and needs to be redone. Nothing God created was bad, but it has all been affected by the curse of sin and needs to be resurrected and renewed. What is going to happen is that these heaven's God created in Genesis 1:1 will be resurrected to what God intended them to be before the curse. 2. Now there are some passages in the Bible that suggest that the universe will wear out and others that do not. I will not take time to read this today but let me encourage you to read Psalm 148 some time this week. So, is there a contradiction here? The answer is "No!" Just as I said a moment ago, death will remove us from this world, but we will continue living forever whether that is in the presence of God in Heaven or will the Devil in Hell. 3. I am not big into astronomy, but I remember how much I used to enjoy looking up into the heavens as a kid when we had our place at the Salton Sea. It was very dark at night there and you could see so many stars and occasionally a satellite would go by and of course we could often see a shooting star, but for me I have been more interested in oceanography. Now I said all that to say that while I am not into astronomy, I sincerely believe that in Heaven we will be fully capable of traveling the Heavens and why not? We travel the heaven's now in a limited degree with our technology, who can imagine what we will be capable of when the earthly restrictions are lifted? Right now, many of the plants in our solar system are unhabitable, but could this also be the result of the curse so when the curse if lifted why couldn't we visit these planets and beyond? I said a few weeks ago that we might not be explorers like Magellan or Lewis and Clark, but I believe all of us still have a desire to see what lies beyond our current horizons. In the first Star Trek Next Generations movie, oddly enough called "Generations" there is a scene where Captain Picard is talking to a lady named Guinan and she is telling him about a place called the "Nexus". She described it this way, "It was like being inside joy, as if joy were something tangible, and you could wrap yourself in it like a blanket." Well I do not believe in something called the Nexus, but I do believe in the New Heavens and New earth and I believe they will bring us a joy that we will actually be able to wrap ourselves in. Trans. Let's look at another question. B. Will We Live In A Spatial World In Heaven? 1. This takes us back to a question I addressed early on in this series and that question is, "Will we spiritual or physical beings in Heaven?" 2. Now I know this might seem fundamental, but for me at least I need to express what I mean by the word "space" at least in this context. How does space relate to us in Heaven? Space is defined as "The realm or expanse in which all material objects are located, and events occur." Let me repeat that because it is so fundamental for what we are about to address. "The realm or expanse in which all material objects are located, and events occur." This is our space right now, outside of our sanctuary where an event we call worship is taking place. I contend that the doctrine of the resurrection emphatically declares that we will occupy space in Heaven. Consider the words of Jesus in Luke 24:39, "Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it's really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, as you see that I do." Luke 24:39 (NLT2) We are finite creatures even in Heaven and we need time and space in which to live. Now I will say that I sincerely believe that in Heaven we will be able to do things with these bodies that we cannot do now, but we will not be God, we will still be finite creatures with certain limitations. For instance we will not be able to be two places at once. 3. Now let me ask you a question that I think will help clarify what I am saying. Do you plan to reunite with someone in Heaven? I sure do! Today is the one-year anniversary of Shery's death. This is not an easy day for us as I am sure you can imagine. When I get to Heaven whether that is in the rapture or through death, I want to see Jesus, but at least where I am right now, I think I want to see Sherry first. So, if I am going to do this or if you are going to do this, isn't the next question we have to answer is where and when and don't both of those questions refer to time and space? Where is the space and when is the time? When we were talking about the New Jerusalem we talked about walls, gates, streets rivers and more. Do not all these things refer to space? I said that I am sure we will use the gates as meeting places. Well that refers to a place which is space and it refers to a time because we will need to determine when we plan to meet there. 4. There are a lot of people who sincerely believe that time and space will be no more in Heaven. Here is one person's idea. says, "Time and space will not be the same as known here on earth, and relationships will be of a different order. This being so, it is clear that the life of the new humanity in their resurrection bodies of glory can be described only in symbolic terms." Just a PS, I also plan to address this question of our relationships in Heaven, but that is a few months down the road. Now my question to this person would be, "Where is your biblical evidence for this idea?" The Bible refers to things on the New Earth the same way it does for life on this earth. Listen to what Jesus said, "And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world-from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven." Mark 13:27 (NLT2) Do not the words earth and heaven refer to space? Listen, our resurrection does not eliminate space and time, but instead it redeems it! The fact is some people try to make heaven sound more wondrous by saying that time and space will not exist, but here is a vital reality they miss. If space does not exist then there is no there, there. You do not want to live in a place like that anymore than a fish wants to live out of water. Can you imagine saying to a fish, when you die you are going to a place where there is no water. I put this in your notes because I wanted to be sure you had this. God inhabits eternity, His creatures who again are finite inhabit time and space. Trans. OK no pun intended but I am running out of time, so I want us to address this issue of time in Heaven. C. Will We Experience Time In Heaven? 1. Look at what Peter said in 2 Peter. "But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day." 2 Peter 3:8 (NLT2) So does this mean that time will cease to exist for us in Heaven? For me the fact that Peter cannot speak of the infinity of God without using terms related to time says that time will in fact exist for us in Heaven. 2. Here is how one theologian put it. argues, "What a relief and what joy to know that in heaven there will be no more time." Where do these ideas come from? Revelation 10:6 in the KJV says that "time will be no more", but this translation of the Greek is incorrect. The words actually mean, "no more delay" as most other translations translate those words. The context of those words were of God's wrath to be released on the earth. 3. You know even some of the music we love gives us bad theology. There is a great old hymn that says, "When time shall be no more" but then the very next words say, "When morning breaks". Doesn't the morning refer to time? Our most beloved hymn Amazing Grace tells us that when we have been there ten thousand years we have only just begun. Ten thousand years is time is it not? I could give you a lot but here (and I have put them in the sermon notes) are some verses that refer to time in Heaven. Heaven's inhabitants track with events happening in time, right down to rejoicing the moment a sinner on Earth repents. Luke 15:7, "In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away!" Luke 15:7 (NLT2) Martyrs in Heaven are told to "wait a little longer" then they ask "how long" before Christ will judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge the martyrs' blood. Those in Heaven couldn't ask "how long" or be told "wait a little longer" unless time passes in Heaven. "They shouted to the Lord and said, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?" 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters-their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred-had joined them. Revelation 6:10-11 (NLT2) Just one more. God's people in Heaven "serve him day and night in his temple" Revelation 7:15, "That is why they stand in front of God's throne and serve him day and night in his Temple..." Revelation 7:15 (NLT2) 4. Some writers distinguish between two Greek words for time, Kronos and Kairos. Kronos is where we get our English word chronological and Kairos refers to quantity of time. Kronos also normally refers to God's time. Now again some suggest that in eternity there will be no more Kronos, but only Kairos, but this seems at best unclear. Afterall in Heaven won't one step follow the other? Won't one event follow another? Those things refer to passage of time not quantity of time. 5. Now I understand that in this life we often refer to time as bad or that it works against us and therefore, we don't want something like this in Heaven, but is time actually bad? I believe the answer is NO! Did Adam and Eve exist in time before the fall? Yes! So, time is not bad, but we can certainly waste and misuse it. God knows and can access past and future as readily as present. We can remember the past and anticipate the future, but we can live only in the present. Time is the environment in which we as finite beings live in. Time is not the problem here the curse is the problem. When the curse is lifted time will no longer work against us. We will not see the passage of time as a missed opportunity because there will still be more time. Time for us will not be seen as something lost but as something that provides us will more opportunities to explore all that God has for us in eternity. I believe that we will still live in time but no longer under the pressure of time and wont that be fantastic?! Conclusion A. Let me conclude this message with a quote from Randy Alcorn. Buddhism, which knows no resurrection, teaches that time will be extinguished. Christianity, solidly based on a resurrection of cosmic dimensions, teaches time will go on forever. For too long we've allowed an unbiblical assumption ("there will be no time in Heaven") to obscure overwhelming biblical revelation to the contrary. This has served Satan's purposes of dehumanizing Heaven and divorcing it from the existence we know. Since we cannot desire what we can't imagine, this misunderstanding has robbed us of desire for Heaven. Randy Alcorn 1. I don't know if I have helped you the months I have been in this series, but I can tell you this has helped me tremendously to gain a true biblical picture of Heaven. I know that I desire now to be in Heaven more than I ever have. I have less fear of death than I have ever had, and I desire the rapture of God's church more than I ever have. I sincerely hope this is true for you as well. 2